Viral

No one's gonna call the coronavirus pandemic good news -- but folks in the legal marijuana biz will at least say there's a silver, or green, lining for them.

THC Design, one of the largest cannabis suppliers in the game, tells TMZ ... they saw a 300% increase in sales this week -- a spike they attribute completely to the outbreak.

THC Design supplies 275 dispensaries and 20 delivery service platforms in Cali, so yeah ... they're in high demand.

Despite the huge consumer demand, THC Design says it's not hiring new employees ... at least not yet. Sorry to burst your bubble, recently-unemployed stoners.

As for its current workforce, THC Design tells us it's taking extra steps to keep the workplace safe -- the main facility in Downtown L.A. has a new sterilization procedure for all employees entering the building.

Among the new safety procedures -- handwashing with isopropyl alcohol to completely sterilize, separating the workforce and allowing office staff to work from home, scrapping communal lunches, and making everyone enter from the same entrance to make sure they're sanitized.

Which reminds us ... wash your hands AND your bongs, too!!! Oh, if Dr. Fauci would only say that at the next White House briefing.

The well-endowed man from the coronavirus prank text is popping up on all kinds of gear -- but since he's now dead, the guy who snapped the pic wants some dough to get in the right hands.

You've probably fallen victim to it -- folks are sending friends messages offering crucial pandemic info, but the links all lead to this image of a black man with an anaconda. The prank's so popular, blogs are now selling his likeness on t-shirts.

TMZ did some digging, and we discovered the OG snapshot was taken by Pantheon Productions owner Walter Smith for a porn site. Walter tells us he took it around 2009, and on the site, his subject went by the name, "Wood."

Seems appropriate, but Walter says that's not his real name, and the guy died back in 2016. Now, Barstool Sports and other sites are selling merch with the model's face.

Walter owns the rights to the photo, but says he's not upset folks are hawking shirts because that's just the way the world works nowadays. However, he'd like to see profits from that merch to go to the man's family.

He says he won't give out Wood's real name, because he's no longer here to give permission -- however, Walter tells us he'd put vendors in touch with the family if they want to donate to them.

Evangeline Lilly is going against the grain in a big way ... sending her kids off to gymnastics and having lots of dicey interactions, because she believes the coronavirus scare is not only overblown ... it might even have some sinister tinges to it.

Evangeline just said for her and her fam, it's business as usual. She said, "Just dropped my kids off at gymnastic camp. They all washed their hands before going in. They are playing and laughing."

It gets even more real ... The actress says she's living with her dad who has stage 4 leukemia. She says, "I am also immune compromised at the moment."

And then, there's this mantra ... "Some people value their lives over freedom, some people value freedom over their lives. We all make our choices."

One thing that she doesn't address .... if anyone in her family contracts the virus and interacts with others, they could spread it to people who might be at risk and, as you know, a number of those people are dying.

She says the virus is really just a "respiratory flu" ... despite just about every doctor saying it's more serious than the flu.

She feels the government has taken too much control over our lives and it's getting too close to Martial Law for comfort.

Quarantine class got a whole lot better for some 1st graders in Georgia this week ... 'cause Shaquille O'Neal popped in their video lesson to say hi -- and everyone freaked out!!

TMZ Sports has learned the Big Diesel is a family friend of a student at East Lake Elementary in McDonough, GA ... and with the kids in isolation over coronavirus fears, Shaq decided to brighten their day.

The students were doing a lesson over FaceTime ... when O'Neal shockingly popped up on the screen.

The NBA legend said hello to the teacher -- who said, stunned, "Is that Shaq?!" -- and kids and parents on the call all began losing their minds.

You can see in the clip ... dads, moms and students all grabbed their phones to snap video -- all with priceless looks on their faces!!

We're told Shaq stayed on for a few minutes ... saying hi to everyone in the chat -- with one parent telling us, "It was really cool."

It's an awesome gesture from Shaq -- because some kids are struggling with the effects of school closures and quarantines all over the country.

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is closing its doors to most visitors during the coronavirus pandemic ... TMZ has learned.

As of early Wednesday morning, the hospital put the new rules in place to severely restrict the number of outside people entering the hospital. We're told surgery patients, and emergency room patients will be allowed one visitor.

Additionally, anyone who's given birth at the hospital is allowed one visitor. Sorry ... aunts, uncles, grandparents might have to wait until the newborn gets home.

Cedars is following in the footsteps of several other major hospitals around the country -- including ones in San Francisco and New York City.

Nail salons from coast-to-coast are full of empty chairs, and way fewer employees are waiting to provide mani-pedis ... because COVID-19 is already killing businesses.

The general consensus among salon owners and employees we spoke to is they're totally screwed with next month's rent coming due in a couple weeks. Angela Yi owns Ivy Nail & Spa in NYC, and told us all scheduled appointments the past few days have canceled and there have been no walk-ins. She is, understandably, panicking. She says normally they'd make $1,500 to $2,000 per day off about 20 customers, but now they're earning zilch and will be for the foreseeable future.

Angela's already cut her staff from 15 to 3, but says that $15k rent train is coming down the tracks. She says people are comparing the business decline to after the September 11 attacks, but this is way worse ... with no end in sight.

Same story for Tina's Nail and Spa near L.A. -- owner Tina Tran says she only saw 3 customers Monday and made $120. Her rent alone is $2,500, and it's due next week.

Tina says they're a small shop with only 3 employees, and despite making sure they are careful with cleanliness, the reality is nobody's coming. Nails, and other cosmetic services, just ain't top of mind.

The manager for ZaZaZoo Nail Salon in Chicago says biz is down 95 percent, and staff hours are slashed in half to make sure they follow the guideline of 10-person gatherings.

Ditto for Luv Nail Shop in Miami, where they have ONE scheduled appointment for the rest of the week, and they're considering shutting down immediately.

Celeb chef Jose Andres is doing everything in his power to be part of the solution when it comes to the coronavirus ... and it starts with feeding America, practically for free.

We got Jose outside his famed D.C. restaurant, Jaleo, on Tuesday where he was preparing to open the joint and serve to-go only meals for $7 to those who can afford it, and for free to those who can't.

Jaleo is just 1 of Jose's 8 restaurants in D.C. and NYC where he's doing this ... and his reasoning is simple -- it's practically a call of duty. The Michelin rated chef -- who's famously feuded with President Trump -- says what he's doing by turning his fancy joints into community soup kitchens, is what every well-off restaurant owner should be doing too.

Check out the video ... Jose's preparing for the worst, which would explain his much bigger ambition to have other restaurants take part in feeding the needy. As he put it, he does NOT want the lack of food to make the ongoing medical crisis any worse.

BTW ... Jose's kept the social distancing guideline of 10 people in mind. The sidewalk outside his restaurant is marked with "stand here" flyers to keep patrons spread out.

Giada De Laurentiis is taking a page out of Tupac's book of lyrics -- saying while we're all under quarantine ... it's time to change the way we eat and change the way we live.

The celebrity chef joined us Tuesday on "TMZ Live" and shared some food for thought, quite literally, about coronavirus isolation forcing us to simplify. With the run on grocery store supplies, Giada says we've gotta learn to make do with fewer options.

She says the future looks bright for canned goods and frozen foods, which will become more in vogue the longer quarantines last. Giada says gone are the days of whipping up 20-ingredient dishes. You might have the time, but good luck finding supplies.

We know what you're thinking, canned veggies taste like, well, canned ... but Giada's got tips to make 'em taste way better.

The dearly departed hopefully won't hold a grudge over low funeral turnouts -- coronavirus is keeping loved ones at home.

TMZ spoke with several prominent funeral homes in major cities across the country -- and the overall message was this ... they're scaling back, and finding innovative ways to grieve those who've passed on during the global pandemic. Prepare for morbidity, folks.

For starters, several mortuaries -- including some in Chicago, San Fran, Fort Lauderdale, New York and Los Angeles -- tell us they're planning on limiting the number of guests allowed at any given burial service in the coming weeks ... hard as that may be.

With the CDC's newest guidelines of no more than 50 bodies in one place at one time ... it sounds like just about all the parlors will attempt to honor that. The question of how is interesting though ... each spot does it differently, some with more ingenuity than others.

Chicago's Leak & Sons Funeral Home says it's considering implementing a "family only" rule for now, in hopes of keeping things compact. James C. Boyd Funeral Home in FL says it's putting a hard cap of 50 people per service ... and a morgue in NYC says they're drawing the line at just 25 at a time. A funeral joint in SF tells us they've seen customers push out funeral dates entirely, solving the problem of crowd control for them.

Now, the more innovative route is being embraced fully by a cemetery in L.A. called Hillside Memorial, where tons of celebs are buried. They say they're offering live streams as an alternative, so anyone who wants in on the service can watch from home.

Some of these other places have streaming options too, but none quite as robust as Memorial's -- which normally costs $235 a pop. Not these days though ... we're told they're waiving it in light of the new safety measures brought on by the outbreak.

So, no worries, your funeral can still get max views. 💀

Mint juleps in September, anyone!?

Churchill Downs has announced the most famous horse racing event in the world -- The Kentucky Derby -- will be postponed from May to Sept. over the coronavirus scare.

It's the first time the race won't be run in May since 1945 ... when officials called off the event due to WWII.

“Throughout the rapid development of the COVID-19 pandemic, our first priority has been how to best protect the safety and health of our guests, team members and community," Churchill Downs honcho Bill Carstanjen said,

"As the situation evolved, we reached the difficult conclusion that we needed to reschedule. At no point did we ever consider canceling the Kentucky Derby.

The plan is to reschedule the race from May 2nd to Sept. 5 -- which just needs final approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. The KHRC is expected to give the thumbs up on Thursday.